Manager, UX Design

About the Role Taco Bell is looking for a creatively driven Manager, UX/UI Design who brings exceptional visual craft, strong product thinking, and the ability to develop a talented team.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can establish a compelling creative direction, help designers strengthen their work, and move confidently into the details themselves. You should bring a sharp eye for typography, composition, imagery, interaction, and storytelling, supported by a clear understanding of usability and customer needs.

You will guide design across omnichannel experiences, including kiosks, digital menu boards, and restaurant technology. Working closely with Product, Engineering, Brand Creative, Content, Strategy, and Research, you will translate Taco Bell’s brand into intuitive, distinctive experiences that connect across physical and digital environments.

Advanced Figma proficiency is essential, along with practical expertise in Adobe Creative Cloud, particularly Photoshop and Illustrator.

What You’ll Do Lead Creative Direction and Design Quality

• Establish clear creative and experience direction for assigned products and initiatives, connecting customer needs, brand expression, and business goals.
• Translate ideas into compelling concepts, polished interfaces, and interactive prototypes that help teams evaluate and refine solutions.
• Set a high standard for typography, layout, color, imagery, hierarchy, and interaction design.
• Lead constructive critiques, providing specific, actionable feedback that improves the work and develops each designer’s judgment.
• Stay involved from early exploration through implementation, ensuring the delivered experience reflects the intended design.

Manage and Develop the Team

• Manage, coach, and develop UX/UI and product designers through clear expectations, regular feedback, and meaningful growth opportunities.
• Delegate with clear ownership, giving designers the context and support needed to make decisions and deliver.
• Coordinate internal designers and contract partners to maintain consistent quality and accountability.
• Partner with design leadership and Design Operations to balance capacity, priorities, and development needs.
• Build a collaborative environment where designers share ideas, challenge assumptions, and take pride in their craft.

Connect Brand, Usability, and Product Thinking

• Turn complex requirements into clear user journeys, flows, interfaces, and prototypes.
• Adapt experiences to the needs of each surface while maintaining a cohesive Taco Bell identity.
• Incorporate research, customer feedback, analytics, and accessibility considerations into design decisions.
• Partner with the Design Systems team to evolve reusable patterns and components that support both consistency and creative expression.
• Consider real restaurant conditions, including viewing distance, speed of interaction, operational needs, and hardware constraints.

Partner Across Functions and Deliver

• Collaborate with Product and Engineering to clarify requirements, assess feasibility, and resolve tradeoffs early.
• Work with Brand Creative, Marketing, and Content Strategy to translate campaigns and brand assets into effective product experiences.
• Present design recommendations with clear rationale, connecting creative choices to customer and business outcomes.
• Establish clear review points, document decisions, and resolve conflicting feedback so work can move forward.
• Ensure designs include the interaction states, annotations, assets, and specifications needed for implementation.
• Participate in design QA and support the resolution of visual and usability issues before release.

What You Bring

• 6+ years of relevant experience in UX/UI, product design, or digital experience design.
• 4+ years of design management experience in an agency or corporate environment, including direct responsibility for coaching and developing designers.
• Exceptional visual design skills, demonstrated through a portfolio of distinctive, thoughtfully executed digital experiences.
• Advanced, hands-on Figma proficiency, including Auto Layout, components, variants, variables, shared libraries, responsive layouts, and interactive prototyping.
• Strong Adobe Creative Cloud proficiency, particularly Photoshop and Illustrator, with the ability to create, refine, and prepare visual assets for digital use.
• A track record of translating brand identity into usable, accessible interfaces and cohesive experiences.
• Experience guiding work from discovery and concept development through production and launch.
• Strong understanding of interaction design, information hierarchy, accessibility, and design systems.
• The ability to explain design decisions clearly, navigate feedback, and build productive relationships across disciplines.
• Sound judgment in balancing creative ambition, customer needs, delivery timelines, and technical constraints.

Additional Experience We Value

• Experience with kiosks, digital menu boards, retail, hospitality, or other connected physical and digital experiences.
• Motion design or micro-interaction skills that strengthen usability and brand expression.
• Familiarity with front-end development concepts and close collaboration with engineers.
• Thoughtful use of AI tools for exploration, prototyping, and documentation, supported by strong creative judgment and attention to quality.

What Success Looks Like

• The team delivers polished, recognizable Taco Bell experiences that are clear and easy to use.
• Designers understand the creative direction, own their work, and demonstrate growth in craft and decision-making.
• Cross-functional partners receive clear recommendations, timely decisions, and implementation-ready designs.
• Shared patterns improve consistency and delivery efficiency across surfaces.
• Design quality carries through to the launched experience, with outcomes evaluated against agreed customer, business, and operational goals.

Portfolio Expectations

Please share a portfolio demonstrating both your individual design craft and your leadership contribution. Selected examples should show the problem, your role, the creative direction, key decisions, and the delivered outcome.

We are especially interested in seeing how you translate a brand into a digital experience, develop ideas through iteration, and help a team produce stronger work.

Salary Range: $151,600 to $165,000 annually + bonus eligibility. This is the expected salary range for this position. Ultimately, in determining pay, we'll consider the successful candidate’s location, experience, and other job-related factors.